Hybrid electric vehicles (HEV's), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV's), battery electric vehicles (BEV's), fuel cell vehicles and other known electrified vehicles differ from conventional motor vehicles in that they are powered by one or more electric machines (i.e., electric motors and/or generators) instead of or in addition to an internal combustion engine. High voltage current for powering these types of electric machine(s) is typically supplied by a traction battery system having one or more battery cells that store energy.
One or more battery cells of the traction battery system may become damaged during an abnormality event, such as a vehicle collision. It may be desirable to recycle the damaged battery cells after such an event. However, the energy stored within the battery cells may need dissipating to render the cells inert (i.e., a zero voltage state) prior to their removal from the electrified vehicle.